Sunday, April 08, 2007

Quick "Amazing Race" spoilers coming up just as soon as I have some homemade lemonade...

The implosion of Uchenna and Joyce's Frankfurt connection meant that the producers had to spend the rest of the episode pretending like it was a four-person race, even doing the lame attempt to create suspense over who would make it to the mat in third place. They even kept U/J off-screen for 40 minutes or so in the hopes we would forget them and get concerned about whether the Yield would hurt Eric and Danielle or if the Chas could work through their spat in time. But, of course, none of it mattered, because U/J were so far back that the producers didn't even bother showing them doing the Detour and Roadblock. (Or is there a mercy rule in a situation like this where the producers don't force a team to go through the motions if everyone else has checked in by the time they arrive in the pit stop city?)

So now we're down to four teams, one of whom I love (Cha-Cha-Cha), one I'm generally fond of (the Beauty Queens), the other two of whom I despise. Why do I have a bad feeling it's going to be Charla/Mirna and Eric/Danielle racing to the final mat?

The BQs made a bad call with the Yield, which is really only valuable if you use it one of two ways: 1)If you Yield the last-place team, giving yourself an extra cushion to avoid finishing last; or, to a much lesser extent, 2)If all the teams are closely bunched together and you Yield a powerhouse team in the hopes it slows them enough that there's a chance they could go out. This was neither. Either you Yield Uchenna and Joyce (who very clearly had missed their Frankfurt connection, which the BQs and everyone else knew about), or you don't use it. Now this is going to create annoying friction and drama and give the likes of Mirna yet another excuse to act self-righteous.

26 comments:

There was mercy given to U/J. If you notice when they get their first clue upon landing it simply tells them to go straight to the pit stop. At that point Uchenna said something like "Oh boy." Clearly they had to know it was game over at that point. If it was a non elimination round they would have had them still go through the motions because the time they arrived still would determine the time they left. With it being an elimination round that would have just been cruel to put them through for no reason.

I am not really a fan anymore of any of the teams left. If I had to root for someone it would be for any team to beat Charla & Mirna who I despise. The beauty queens as much as I did not like them on their season have at least been true to themselves and raced their race this year so I am probably rooting for them to win. Followed by Eric & Dani (I like Eric but they have no shot).

If you notice when they get their first clue upon landing it simply tells them to go straight to the pit stop.

True, but that could also have been an edit, with the producers figuring there's no point wasting time showing them completing the tasks. In their exit interviews, the Guidos said there was a Roadblack during the first half of last week's episode, but it got cut for time because it didn't affect the finish order and they had to spend so much time on airport drama. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they did get such a clue at the start.

I liked Eric enough during his season even if he and his partner were pigs about women. I was always a big Hippies fan. I don't like how Eric treats Danielle, but he is a good racer. I imagine they'll make it to the end two based on his strengths alone. Anyhoo, getting back to the quote, his comment about the BQ's yielding them made us laugh so hard we had to rewind twice to hear it again and again. Maybe I shouldn't enjoy it so, but I almost spit my milk out (dinnertime and all.)

I so wanted to see Phil tell Danny that he did have the cookie clue wrong so he'd have to apologize to Oswald. The editing with Danny going back for papers again and him repeating "Hating you!" Such a hoot.

I agree with Alan, my faves are Team Cha-Cha-Cha. I hated the BQ's during last season, but they've grown on me a bit. They lost points with me on the yielding as it was beyond unnecssary. I loathe Mirna, so if they win I'll have to boycott...well, something. grrrr....

I'm pretty surprised that so many teams went for that cookie search. If you're an All-Star you surely know that you nearly never go with the search option!

Also my husband and I were quite surprised that no team used their common sense at the yield station and thought of Uchenna and Joyce. All of them seemed to forget about U/J. We assumed that if they had thought of them they would realize they were in last b/c they did get stuck in Frankfurt (why were they so prideful and not just change that flight?!) and therefore no one would have yielded anyone. And now, yes, it is just another reason for Mirna to fake superiority. Bad, bad move on the BQ's part. (**)

As previous winners, I never wanted U/J to win this season. However, I always liked them and their team. I hope this race broughbt them closer. I was sad to see them leave on such an poor note.

(**) Just had this thought: what if the BQ's could win it, but their mistake at this yield station is what causes their ultimate demise? Just a thought....

Just a thought -- if U&J had MADE their connection, they would have been on the ground ahead of 3 of the teams. It's conceivable that they thought they weren't seeing U&J because they were trailing them. I assumed that's why the BQs were so shocked to find they were first -- they'd been assuming they were trailing U&J all day. Mirna and Charla should have known better with their arrival time, but they don't seem to be the types to notice that kind of thing.

I hope Oswald and Danny have a good leg next week. I think we're due for another non-elimination leg before they cut the final four to the final three.

As for the straight to the pit stop thing, they have done it before when the last team was behind all the other teams and it was an elimination leg. And, of course, there were the couple of times that Phil has gone out on the course and stopped people in the middle of tasks rather than have them toil on for no reason. Does anybody remember in the first season when Joe and Bill were still in Alaska when the million had been won in New York? They got a note in their next clue. That's when they started building in lots of circuit breakers to get teams back together if there were travel problems.

I don't think Dustin & Kandice did know that Uchenna & Joyce had missed their flight.

I thought that the way the Yield station is set up, you know which teams have already gone through so that you don't waste the Yield on them. You know, Charla and Mirna take their picture out, say, "We choose not to Yield," then put it in a different place so there's no confusion, right?

Everybody knew that Uchenna and Joyce had a tight window for that connection. When Dustin and Kandice got to the first clue box, there were only four clues left in it. Couple that with the picture thing, and it's pretty clear that U/J missed their flight.

The surprise on the BQs' faces when Phil told them they were first, and the vast relief on all the other teams as they also checked in (especially Danny and Oswald when he told them they were in 4th), led me to think all of them assumed Uchenna and Joyce were ahead of them. Given that, the BQs' decision to Yield Danielle and Eric made sense to me.

According to some racers that post on TWOP, the producers stick extra clues every so often so racers won't know their position based upon counting clues.

And apparently the BQs were the only ones that were awake when Prodcuers explained the Yield, because, listen up racers, IT'S NOT CHEATING! I agree it might not have been the best use of it, but using it doesn't make you a degenerate.

My favorite thing about the Yield is just how outraged teams get when the Yield is used against them, as if it was some sort of huge betrayal of trust. The same people who say, "Hey, it's a competition," when they refuse to collaborate, or try to deceive other teams in various ways, suddenly can't believe that anyone would actually use an available race tactic against them. The barrage of sexist insults that resulted didn't exactly make me feel symphathy for Eric and Danielle, either.

Danny's half-assed performance on the newspaper task, which appeared to involve spending nearly all the team's available money to buy newspapers from a nearby gas station as well as pausing for refreshment, and his obvious mis-reading of the instructions on the cookie task make me worried for the long-term prospects of Team Cha Cha Cha. They're right on the verge of making the type of mistake that puts them in last place, and Oswald doesn't seem to have enough fire for victory to make up for Danny's apparent resignation.

As pointed out above, the producers frequently put extra clues in to throw the teams off.

I was totally bummed about this ep, as U&J were one of my faves. Now I only have the Chas to root for. If they go out fourth, I may not even watch the rest of the race because I hate the rest of the teams (even though the BQs were kind of growing on me last night). Eric is such a dick :(

Did anyone else notice that both Charla and Mirna and Eric and Danielle didn't follow the instructions at the Detour? Phil clearly said they had to make their way on foot to the market/textile shop, but both teams took taxis (Schmirna even took a cab from one Detour to the other)!

I kept waiting for them the hit the mat and be forced to take a time penalty, but no luck. Maybe at the beginning of the next leg? Does anyone else remember how they handle these small infractions?

Wow, no suspense about the finish when U&J missed their flight although the Dear Husband forgot about them and was caught up in the detour drama and was surprised when I reminded him.

All the teams assumed that U&J were ahead and were wise to do so. Even if connections are tight, you should always assume you are fighting out for last place when your so close to the end. To that end, the BQ's chose to pick Eric and Danielle because they thought that they were the biggest threats. Eric certainly could be, I have doubts about Danielle. If I were the BQ's I would have picked the Chas (even though I love them) danny is stronger than Danielle.

I think that the heat was really messing with Danny. Some folks manage heat better than other, it's not just about being hot. Overheating drains your mental batteries as much as your physical ones. Hopefully they can get back on track.

I think my favorite part of this episode was when Eric called the BQs"Dirty pirate hookers." I can think of many names to call those two but dirty pirate hookers is quite creative. Eric is a total jerk but that was amusing:)

I believe he was actually quoting a Will Ferrell line from Anchorman (from the scene where Ron and Veronica are insulting each other over the newscast's closing credits, the same one where he threatens to punch her in the uterus).

Okay, I'm probably the only one on here who has some kind of irrational like of Charla and Mirna. I don't know what it is...but I don't find them nearly as irritating as most people do.

I find it odd, and insulting, that the Barbie dolls are constantly talking about wanting to be the first all-girl team to win, when there is another all-girl team (with a disability) hot on their heels! You have to give it to Charla and Mirna, they found a better plane flight than everyone else. They seem to have a little bit of savvy.

And, personally, I wouldn't have shared the computers with the other team either! They would certainly try to peek at what the girls were doing and steal info. They were just trying to keep Danielle's and Eric's noses out of their business. And it worked!

So, I really don't mind those two making it to the end. I would love to see Danny and Oswald win, but I would be just as happy to see a 'little person' win the game, too.

While there certainly has been misleading editing and elisions, I'm quite sure that U&J did not have to do any tasks. Their clue said to go DIRECTLY to the pitstop, which we don't generally hear after tasks. And Uchenna's reaction -- "that can't be good," would seem to confirm that.

I didn't catch it (and I already deleted from my Tifaux), but some of the TWOP posters say that when U&J are reading the "Go To The Pitstop" clue they are at the location of the newspaper roadblock and not the caves. So it seems like they definitely had to do the detour if not the roadblock.

I'm still not sure who was right about the cookie challenge -- my wife and I were having the same debate as Danny and Oswald, and the TWOP people seem split on the rules as well. I still think they only had to eat one from each box, but...

I think that the BQ's played the Yield smart. They genuinely seemed to think U&J were ahead of them when they were in the taxi discussing what they would do at the yield, and if there is any doubt then I think you yield a team you are SURE is behind you. More importantly, one could argue they did the right thing becuase they won the leg...

I'm pretty sure that a few times when teams were assessed penalties for misreading rules (like Charla/Mirna taxiing instead of walking) the penalties were doled out at the beginning of the next episode. I'm hoping that's what happens this time.

Penalties are assessed on that leg. If the penalties don't affect the order (and in this ep's case, don't lend at all to the tension since we knew U&J were hopelessly behind), they don't show them, though they will probably mention them at the beginning of the ep to explain why they are leaving 30 min. later than they should be (or however long the penalty was for).

Uchenna said in a post-elimination interview that he and Joyce did do both the Detour and the Roadblock, and that, as I suspected, the editors cut straight from them arriving in Malaysia to them reading the clue at the end of the recycling task.